Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India’s largest drug maker by market value, is looking for acquisitions in Europe, including a possible takeover of German generic drug maker Stada Arzneimittel AG, people familiar with the matter said.
Sun has sought to raise about $1 billion for a European deal, said one person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the process was private. Company executives recently toured Europe to meet with potential targets, another person said.
Stada, based in Bad Vilbel, Germany, has a market value of about euro 1.4 billion ($1.7 billion). The company’s shares were down 3.3 per cent to euro 24.73 at 4.02 pm in Frankfurt after falling as much as 7.45 per cent on Thursday after Deutsche Bank AG cut its stock-price prediction to euro 32.5 from euro 34.
Sun fell 0.6 per cent to Rs 656 in Mumbai trading on Thursday, valuing the company at Rs 67,500 crore ($12 billion). The stock has climbed 32 per cent this year, compared with the 12 per cent return on the 17-company BSE India Healthcare Index.
A spokesman for Sun said the company wasn’t in talks to buy Stada. A spokesman for Stada declined to comment on a potential deal.
Sun, controlled by billionaire Dilip Shanghvi, has about $927 million of cash reserves and may seek acquisitions to broaden its geographic breadth or enhance its presence in the US, Nomura Holdings Inc said in a May 31 report.
